PROJECTS IN PRACTICE by Tom Shulz
Extracted from Scene 2005- 06 June Issue 4
by Tom Shulz
The Lottery – by Shirley Jackson
An Original Adaptation for the Stage
‘The Lottery’, written by Shirley Jackson in 1957, is a
standard text in both Middle and High School English
classes in the United States and other parts of the world. It
is the story of a small town, and the annual Lottery held by
the people who live there. Jackson is a master at
foreshadowing and building dramatic tension. At the horrific
climax of the story the ‘winner’ of the Lottery is stoned to
death by the other members of the town, including her own
family. Jackson does not provide any explanation or moral
judgment of the Lottery, leaving that to her readers to ponder
for themselves.
I remembered a stage adaptation performed at my High
School in Northern California back in the mid 1970’s, and
the impact it had on me and my friends at the time. The
power of that experience was the impetus to dramatize
Jackson’s ‘Lottery’ with Grade 8 students at Jakarta
International School.
Realistic Acting
The foundation of the Grade 8 Theatre Workshop class is
a series of exercises drawn from Bruce Miller’s excellent
book, ‘Head-1st Acting – a Commonsense Technique for
Young Actors’. (Smith and Kraus, 2001) These exercises,
along with a focus on ensemble work and other exercises
based on the work of Sanford Meisner, help provide students
with a basic acting technique with an emphasis on realistic
acting.
It was this desire to focus on realistic acting that
prompted us to create an original adaptation of Jackson’s
story. There is an existing adaptation for the stage, but it
requires actors to play characters who range in age from 570 years old. We spent considerable time reading and
analyzing the original short story, as well as an old film
version from the early 70’s. The challenge then was to
devise a scenario in which we could remain true to Jackson’s
intent, in a context that would allow our actors to play ageappropriate characters.
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The Hierarchy
Our eventual solution was to set the story in a fictional
boarding school. The annual Lottery became the central
tradition of the school, which (like in Jackson’s story) had
been taking place as long as anyone could remember. The
students created their own characters through workshop
exercises, eventually forming groups, alliances and a
complex community inhabiting the school.
From this was born ‘The Hierarchy’, an institutionalized
system in which the students ran the Lottery themselves,
albeit under the all-seeing ‘Superior’, who only appears twice
in the play, as a disembodied voice over the PA system.
Characters found their place within (or on the fringe) of the
Hierarchy, setting the stage for the central conflict of the
story.
Raising the Stakes – Subtext
As in Jackson’s original story, the subtext is crucial to
building the dramatic tension of the story. To raise the stakes
for actors we created a world in which ‘deviant’ behavior
takes many forms, all of which increase one’s chances of
becoming ‘the chosen one’, and thus stoned to death by the
others. The following are a few examples of subtext we
created to raise the dramatic stakes of the piece.
1) All props connected to the Lottery are ‘power objects’,
and mishandling them has serious consequences. The first
used in the play is the black cloth the girls are preparing in
the opening scene. It has to be handled with reverence and
placed ‘just right’ for the Lottery to take place. The boys who
bring in the stones remark that theirs is really ‘the most
important job’, and the stones must be handled with great
care. This subtext helps the actors bring a higher level of
commitment and precision to their work with the props, and
informs the meaning of the play. The same is most clearly
evident in the ‘Book of the Law’ and the Box, in which the
Lottery lots are held. All action in relation to such objects
must be done as ritual, with great precision and clarity. If
not, the character who mishandles such an object runs the
risk of becoming ‘the chosen one’.
2) Any relationship between boys
and girls is strictly forbidden. Thus
Billy’s conversation with his best friend
(George) about the girl (Lindsay) who
he plans to ‘ask out’ is fraught with
danger. George’s effort to dissuade Billy
based on Lindsay’s being ‘too tall for
him’, not only reflects normal
adolescent concerns, but also his
desire to protect Billy from the Lottery.
The dialogue of the first scene between
Paris, Victoria and Summer is also
quite different when viewed through
this lens. Billy’s attempt to protect
Lindsay when she attempts to stand up
to the group becomes an act of real
heroism and significant risk.
3) Any kind of fighting or violence is
strictly forbidden, except the Lottery
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itself. Randall’s roughing up of the
new boy, Cuos, is strictly against the rules, and in doing so
he raises his stature amongst his gang of ‘punk friends’, at
no small risk to his own life. Fred’s apparent cowardice
becomes much easier to understand when one understands
the workings of this secretive and violent society.
4) No one is allowed to explain anything about the
Lottery to newcomers. It is fear of breaking this law which
fuels Fred’s dilemma in defending his new (and only) friend,
Cuos. April comes very close to telling the new girl,
Chelsea, the truth. She is stopped by the power of the
group, who all turn on her in this crucial moment. The
references to the girl, Kristen, in the play are similarly
loaded: Kristen was the girl who was the previous year’s
‘chosen one’.
A Culture of Fear and Paranoia
Underlying all the action and relationships of the play is a
deep level of fear and paranoia. Everyone suspects that the
Lottery may be rigged, but know one is quite sure exactly
who is responsible. Clearly there is advantage in being a
member of ‘The Hierarchy’, although it is never made exactly
clear how one achieves this status. And even belonging to
this group may not provide immunity from the Lottery,
revealed in the conflict surrounding Ivan’s choosing of the
Black Circle lot. April expresses it most clearly when she
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speaks directly to the audience in her
monologue:
“Do you want to know what I want?
I just want to get out of here. There’s
nothing here for me. These people
aren’t my family. They’re not my
friends. Everyone here… they’re all
alone. No one really trusts each other.
The Lottery makes sure of that. They
say there’s always been a Lottery and
there always will be. But I don’t think
so. I dream of a place where they’ve
never heard of the Lottery. I want to fly
away. I want to be free.”
Final Observations
The process of adapting Shirley
Jackson’s short story was a semester of
extremely interesting and rewarding
work, for both the teacher and the
actors. It is very ‘heavy’ material for
13-14 year old students to immerse themselves in, and a
balance of other activities not directly related to work on the
piece was crucial to the creative process. I found it
fascinating that the students found so many correlations
between the story and their own lives. Issues of constantly
shifting relationships and alliances seem to be a fact of life
for adolescent students all around the world, thank goodness
with less dire consequences than in this story. Although
problems of bullying and hazing are quite minor at our
school, those issues also resonated strongly with the
students as raised in the work.
In the end, the most important question is probably,
“Why do these people continue with the Lottery year after
year?” That’s not a question Shirley Jackson answered in her
original short story back in the 1950’s, nor are we going to
attempt to do that for you now.
Tom Schulz and the students of the Grade 8 Theatre
Workshop. (With special thanks to Emily Tetzlaff.)
The script was devised by Tom and his students is
attached as a separate appendage to this issue of Scene; it
will also be posted on the website > Library > Scene.
Tom has asked that any teachers wishing to use or
work on the script – even perform it – to contact
him at Tom Schulz: [email protected]
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